NRCS, Ducks Unlimited to Convert Arkansas Property to Wetlands

Ducks Unlimited recently purchased 800 acres of land near Dyer in Kibler Bottoms, Arkansas, that will be converted into wetlands for waterfowl and hunting.

Craig Hilburn, director of Conservation Programs for the Arkansas Field Station of Ducks Unlimited, said he hopes the area will be ready for hunting in November.

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The property was purchased through the Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) Wetlands Reserve Program.

“We’re in the process of working with the Game and Fish Commission (GFC) on design and are working with the Corps of Engineers,” Hilburn said. “It’s going to be called the Frog Bayou Wildlife Management Area. The intent of it is to be public.”

The area, which rests beside the Arkansas River, will be developed specifically for waterfowl, but “there will be a lot of other wildlife there as well — deer, turkeys, migratory birds and a lot of shore birds,” he said. “There will be a lot of opportunity for hunting and watching birds.”

Hilburn, a biologist, declined to release the figure of dollars paid for the property.

He did say it was formerly owned by a trust of five family members from the Denman and Wheeler estate in Dyer.

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NRCS and volunteers of Ducks Unlimited provided the funds to purchase the land, he said.

The property will be owned by GFC and managed by them as a public Wildlife Management Area. The GFC will be responsible for the upkeep of this property.

Though the property in its current state is agricultural, Ducks Unlimited plans to build 3- to 4-foot-high levees capable of creating water pools for waterfowl that will quickly produce a wetland area, Hilburn said.

In addition to the levees, Ducks Unlimited plans to plant hardwood trees of the oak variety along with pecan trees on the land that won’t flood.

The hardwood trees will be used by different species of animals, he said.

“At some point in the future there will be a gift campaign to help raise money for the project and for restoration of the area,” Hilburn said. “The wetlands will be managed by the game and fish commission. Though we hope to have the wetlands done by waterfowl season in November, we won’t have the trees planted until later in the winter. It will be up to the game and fish commission to determine whether it is open this winter or not.

As for the effect on the environment, Hilburn said, “A hundred years from now, it’ll be a hardwood forest.”

Story by Michelle Seeber, Crawford Press Argus-Courier.